The sequence begins by depicting the collision
of two large galaxies which now form The Antennae. Gas and stars from
the galaxies are ejected into long arcs. The animation then shows
how collisions between huge gas clouds in the central region of the
merging system trigger a stellar baby boom. Next, as seen in a closer
view, the most massive of these stars race through their evolution
in a few million years. These stars end their lives as they explode
as supernovas that further heat the clouds and enrich them with heavy
elements. In conclusion, the animation dissolves into Chandra’s X-ray
image of The Antennae galaxies.
[Run time = 0:39 sec]Credit: Simulation: NASA/STScI/G. Bacon
Animation: NASA/CXC/A. Hobart
X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/G. Fabbiano et al.

The movie zooms in from a wide-field optical image
of the colliding galaxy system known as The Antennae. The optical
image dissolves to a Chandra X-ray image colored to show the intensity
of the low (red), medium (green) and high (blue) energy X-rays from
huge diffuse clouds of multimillion degree Celsius gas, and bright
point-like sources from neutron stars and black holes.
[Run time = 0:08 sec]Credit:
Optical Image: Digital Sky
Survey
X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/G. Fabbiano et al.

This sequence zooms in on an optical image of the
central region of The Antennae, then dissolves to a Chandra X-ray
image of the multimillion-degree-gas clouds in this system. The image
next dissolves to a sequence of images that shows hot gas clouds where
the abundances of iron (red), magnesium (green), and silicon (blue)
atoms are greatest. The final image is a composite of the three abundance
maps.
[Run time = 0:16 sec]Credit:
Optical Image: Digital Sky
Survey
X-ray and Element Maps: NASA/CXC/SAO/G.
Fabbiano et al.